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So, I've searched high and low, scouring the internet, and have finally found the solution to poison ivy infection. I didn't find the actual solution on the net though. I just learned the mechanism and then deduced the solution. Where ever you have contacted the oil, simply douse the area with alcohol based hand sanitizer and rub it in. It works wonders. If you do this within a few hours of contact you will likely have no rash or symptoms at all. I've tested this for several months now and it seems to be fool proof. I carry a bottle in my car and it's cheap as hell and easy to apply and store.

Hey, TallTreeClimber! This sounds like an absolutely brilliant piece of deduction. Could you explain the thought process that took place that led you to try your solution? Really nice job. This could change a lot of people's lives for the better. I have not yet been exposed to any of this, but your solution will be the first one I try, if I ever do get exposed. Thanks for posting this!

Well-Known Member

Hey, TallTreeClimber! This sounds like an absolutely brilliant piece of deduction. Could you explain the thought process that took place that led you to try your solution? Really nice job. This could change a lot of people's lives for the better. I have not yet been exposed to any of this, but your solution will be the first one I try, if I ever do get exposed. Thanks for posting this!

After a lot of pain and itching, and knowing I'm in almost constant contact with the poison, I thought to myself, instead of scrubbing with dawn like I usually do, why don't I try using hand sanitizer instead? If i slather it on thick, maybe it will disolve the "grease" that urushiol leaves on my skin....sure enough, it does.

I still get tricked occasionally though, sometimes I'll get it on my parts and not know it so I won't use sanitizer on those parts, and I'll be sorry later. The stuff is all over my property and it's sneaky.

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I was swimming in it marking a timber sale for several hours a week and a half ago (the perfect 3 days before going on vacation). I came home and washed with hand sanitizer and Dawn and scrubbed off real well in the shower. Only got on spot on top of my foot???? (I had rubber boots on half way up to my knees! - I did dump a few leaves out when I got back in the truck...wonder if one of those was Ivy and my sweat pulled it down onto my skin?). That was pretty minor and short lived as I washed it 2x per day for 2 days with Zanfel. Just a minor irritation one time when I wore sandals all afternoon instead of shoes and socks.

Active Member

I have many years of diving in and thrashing about in poison oak thickets. I began my business with brush clearing here in California. Acres of poison oak clearing using clearing saws, chain saws, loppers, chainsaw cross cutting piles in place, heck we even pioneered using goats to maintain cleared areas. Our original heard is still used to this day contracted out by the East Bay Regional Parks.

Over the years I have heard so many different methods folks say to not get poison oak rash. (I know zero about poison ivy BTW).
Myths I have heard over the years:
'Native Americans are immune'
'I have built up an immunity'
'Just eat some leaves before exposure'
'I work in it all the time, not a problem for me'

I have employed 'smoke jumpers', 'hot shots', veteran California Conservation Corps, 'vegetation specialists', etc etc
Each and every one has been felled by exposure. Most resorting to MD Doctor prescribed perscriptions.

Here is my take on poison oak:

EVERYONE is susceptible without ANY exceptions.

Poison oak oils, even when old and crusty, remain active. I have a friend who is a docent at the Oakland Museum of Natural History. She has handled poison oak baskets made by the Olone Indians maybe over 100 years old. She has gotten poison oak rash from handling these baskets changing or updating the exhibits. True story.

Some people for whatever reason seem to have a limited reaction. symptoms usually show up as a blackened burned looking spot on their skin. Quickly gone after a couple three weeks.

Other people you can almost watch the progression of the rash as it spreads through their veins.

My educated advice? If you seem to not be bothered by it, then LIMIT your exposure, because your resistance WILL get worn down, NOT increased by further exposure. Fact.

Like TallTreeClimber implies, get away from the oil! Do not break a second sweat, clean yourself. Full shower if possible, handle your clothes with extreme prejudice.
Ummm, a side note: don't throw your shit in the washer with your wifes unmentionables. Trust me on this. 'Hell hath no fury'etc etc lol.

As for treatment of existing rashes, TallTreeClimber gives very good advice: clean that shit off every exposed area, the alcohol idea is brilliant!
However, with weeping disgusting lesions that itch horribly in unmentionable areas, use anything to dry it out AFTER scrubbing with a cleaner/desiccant (I'm really liking the idea of alcohol based hand sanitizer).
Hey, I have tried gasoline, spackling mud (sheet rock stuff), even concrete powder, and gallons of TechNu. Even that pink calamine lotion which is useless.

Well-Known Member

As a note of interest, I have cut poison ivy/oak vines and then a year later when they were all dried out completely crusty and had NO black ooze coming from them, and got them all over my body and had no ill effects whatsoever. I wouldn't recommend it, and I'm not willing do it purposefully to prove my prior experience, but it didn't seem to affect me when I did it.

Active Member

As a note of interest, I have cut poison ivy/oak vines and then a year later when they were all dried out completely crusty and had NO black ooze coming from them, and got them all over my body and had no ill effects whatsoever. I wouldn't recommend it, and I'm not willing do it purposefully to prove my prior experience, but it didn't seem to affect me when I did it.